Paul Cooke claims Super League star “won’t play again”

Former Hull FC and Hull KR star Paul Cooke has suggested that Lachlan Coote will retire immediately.

The fullback suffered plenty of head injuries last season and has suffered another now.

The former St Helens star is retiring at the end of the year and Cooke believes Coote could have played  his last game.

“They’re picking up a number of injuries in key positions,” Cooke said on BBC Radio Humberside.

“I don’t think Lachlan Coote will come back. I hope I’m wrong, I really do.  He was only one head injury away from retirement in my opinion anyway.

“The knock he got at Magic weekend wasn’t something which was a serious knock, a James Batchelor type knock, which we did see.

“So yeah, it’s difficult for Willie Peters and the club right now. The scope for getting players in is so, so difficult.

“The climate is so, so difficult and there’s not a wealth of talent in terms of in key positions where they are missing players, which will be easily given up by another club to send somebody on loan to you or even a permanent deal.

“It may have to be suck it and see and play with the hands that you’ve got that you dealt at the minute because they have got PLT there that can play at full back, they’ve got Mikey Lewis who can go in there, whilst they can play Litten in the halves with Rowan Milnes.

“When you lose your key positional players in your six, seven, nine and one, you can’t just replace them with the quality that they bring on the field with your backups because they’re the reason that they’re paid the big bucks in their positions.

Asked about Coote retiring: “I’m not sure, I’m not sure. Health and wellbeing is far more important than any game of rugby league.

“I’m right in saying he missed the World Cup last year, he didn’t play for Scotland last year, he got a head knock at the end of last season.

“There was talk of him maybe not coming back out for this season, whereas he has. So, yeah, I think he’ll be in a dark place at the minute mentally with regards to what he does do or doesn’t do with the rest of this season.

“He is retiring at the end of this season, I believe, anyway. It’s not easy for a player to not go out on the terms that he wants to go out on and that will be what I think Lachlan will be weighing up right now.”